List of Tampa Bay Lightning head coaches

Last updated

The Lightning have played their home games at Amalie Arena since 1996. St Pete Times Forum At Sunset.jpg
The Lightning have played their home games at Amalie Arena since 1996.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are an American professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL). Often referred to as the Bolts, [1] the team joined the NHL in 1992 as an expansion team, and have won the Stanley Cup championship in 2004, 2020 and 2021. [2] Having first played in the Expo Hall, [3] and later in the ThunderDome (now known as Tropicana Field), [4] the Lightning have played their home games at the Ice Palace, currently titled Amalie Arena, since 1996. The Lightning are owned by Jeffrey Vinik, Julien BriseBois is their general manager, and Steven Stamkos is the team captain.

Contents

There have been nine  head coaches for the Lightning franchise. The team's first head coach was Terry Crisp, who coached for five seasons. John Tortorella, the only American to head coach the team, was the first Lightning coach to have won the Prince of Wales Trophy, [5] the Stanley Cup, [2] and to have been awarded the Jack Adams Award, all of which happened in the 2003–04 season. Steve Ludzik and Jon Cooper are the only two head coaches who have spent their entire NHL head coaching careers with the Lightning.

Jon Cooper is the team's current head coach, having been named to the position on March 25, 2013. [6] Cooper is the only head coach of the Lightning to win the Prince of Wales Trophy four times. [7] Under Cooper, the franchise won its second Stanley Cup championship in 2020 and third championship in 2021. Cooper is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular season wins (480), playoff games coached (139), and the most playoff-games won (84).

Key

#Number of coaches [a]
GCGames coached
WWins = 2 points
LLosses = 0 points
TTies = 1 point
OT Overtime/shootout losses = 1 point [b]
PTS Points
Win% Winning percentage
*Spent entire NHL head coaching career with the Lightning

Coaches

Jon Cooper has been head coach since 2013 Jonathan D. Cooper 2022 (cropped).jpg
Jon Cooper has been head coach since 2013

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2022–23 NHL regular season.

Head coaches of the Tampa Bay Lightning
#NameTerm [c] Regular seasonPlayoffsAchievementsReference
GCWLT/OTPTSPTS%GCWLWin%
1 Terry Crisp 19921998 39114220445329.421624.333 [8]
2 Rick Paterson* 1998 60600.000 [9]
3 Jacques Demers 19981999 14734961785.289 [10]
4 Steve Ludzik* 19992001 12131672385.351 [11]
5 John Tortorella 20012008 53523922274552.516452421.533 Stanley Cup championship: 2004 [2]
Jack Adams Award winner: 2003–04 [12]
Prince of Wales Trophy winner: 2004 [5]
[13]
6 Barry Melrose 2008 1657414.438 [14]
7 Rick Tocchet 20082010 148536926132.446 [15]
8 Guy Boucher 20102013 196977920214.54618117.611 [16]
9 Jon Cooper* 2013present797480250671,027.6441458659.593 NHL All-Star Game: 2018, 2019 [17] [18]
Presidents' Trophy winner: 2018–19 [19]
Stanley Cup championship: 2020, 2021
Prince of Wales Trophy winner: 2015, 2020, 2021, 2022 [20]
[21]

Notes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tampa Bay Lightning</span> National Hockey League team in Tampa, Florida

The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play their home games at Amalie Arena in Downtown Tampa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Lecavalier</span> Canadian ice hockey player

Vincent "Vinny" Lecavalier is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who is currently a special advisor of hockey operations for the Montreal Canadiens. Lecavalier played seventeen seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1998 and 2016. He was the captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 2000–2001 season and again from 2008–2013 and spent his first 14 NHL seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning before being bought out following the 2012–13 season and signing with the Philadelphia Flyers for $22.5 million over 5 years. He was chosen first overall by the Lightning in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft and was a member of their 2004 Stanley Cup championship team. He won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy in 2007 as the NHL's leading goal scorer. On February 10, 2018, the Tampa Bay Lightning retired his number 4 jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Tortorella</span> American ice hockey coach

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince of Wales Trophy</span> National Hockey League (NHL) trophy

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The National Hockey League (NHL) Conference Finals are the Eastern Conference and Western Conference championship series of the NHL. The Conference Finals are each a best-of-seven series, and comprise the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The two series are played in mid-to-late May. The winners of the Eastern and Western Conference Finals receive the Prince of Wales Trophy and Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, respectively, and advance to face each other in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Stephen Paul Ludzik is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and coach who has worked as a television analyst for The Score television network. He played in the National Hockey League for the Chicago Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres between 1981 and 1990. He later coached the Tampa Bay Lightning between 1999 and 2001, and also spent several years coaching in the minor leagues.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Cooper (ice hockey)</span> Canadian-American ice hockey coach

Jonathan D. Cooper is a Canadian-American professional ice hockey coach who is the head coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL). Cooper won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021 as the Lightning head coach, and is currently the longest-tenured coach in the NHL.

Julien BriseBois is a Canadian ice hockey executive. He is the general manager for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the National Hockey League (NHL) and their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Erne</span> American ice hockey player

Adam Dennis Erne is an American professional ice hockey winger for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted in the second round, 33rd overall, by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

References

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  9. "Rick Paterson Coaching Record". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
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  16. "Guy Boucher hockey statistics & profile at hockeydb.com". Hockeydb.com. Hockey DB. Retrieved 2010-08-06.
  17. NHL (January 7, 2018). "Jon Cooper named Atlantic Division coach for 2018 NHL All-Star Game". NHL.com. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  18. "Jon Cooper named Atlantic Division coach at 2019 NHL All-Star Game". NHL.com. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  19. Blackburn, Pete (March 18, 2019). "Tampa Bay Lightning are your 2018-2019 Presidents' Trophy winners ... obviously". CBS Sports . Retrieved March 18, 2019.
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